


First Part of my Star Wars Original Character's backstory-

by DJ_Kyla



Category: Star Wars
Genre: Action/Adventure, Aliens, Aurebesh Language (Star Wars), Bounty Hunter's Guild, Bounty Hunters, Canon-Typical Violence, Coruscant (Star Wars), Coruscant Underworld (Star Wars), Loth Cats (Star Wars), Lower Coruscant, Original Character(s), Science Fiction, Star Wars References, The Force
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27045115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DJ_Kyla/pseuds/DJ_Kyla
Summary: Ehh so a good while back, I made a few Star Wars Characters of my own, and I then wanted to make a backstory for them. I have gone through so many unfinished versions, and I think I like how this one is going...So the 2 Original Characters are Kyla and Castann, and as children, they were abandoned to a criminal group and forced to do various crimes, mostly stealing and stuff like that for the person they work for (Much like Han Solo and Qi'ra).Kyla is around 19 years old, and Castann is around 20 years old.I guess that's all to summarize for now?
Comments: 4
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> (The current title will be changed once I figure out what to name this lol)

Staring at the outlines of the ceilings through the dark, I laid on the mat I slept on at night, letting the dark settle in my mind. The cold of the concrete floors seeped through the mats, touching my skin, sending a chill down my spine. I waited until the whispers of the other orphans like me died down, letting me know they were falling asleep. Once the whispers of their goodnights were over, I let a couple more minutes pass by, then brought my hands to the floor, the tips of my fingers freezing at the slightest touch of the floor, and sat up. In the dark I scanned the pitch-black room, seeing all the other kids’ chests go up and down slowly as my vision adapted to the dark. I could hear my heart pounding intensely at the slightest thought of what we were attempting. Slowly, I stood up, looking down at the smaller kids who looked up to me and trusted me to take care of them throughout the rough, difficult trials one more time. 

I walked over to where my best friend since the beginning was laying, waiting for me to tell him the coast was clear. He looked at me and quickly sat up where his eyes met mine. He stood up, still looking me straight in the eyes, and nodded. We carefully walked past the others as they slept, hoping none of them woke up to us leaving. When we stepped into the clearing, the room was cold and empty. You could hear the occasional heavy footsteps colliding with the floor from the guards that roamed the hallways, making sure none of us were attempting anything past curfew. 

The plan was to sneak out by finding a guard and pick-pocket the key card off them, which would unlock the heavy-duty door at the entrance that kept us locked up, then sneak out before we came in range with a security camera and were spotted. The stealing should be an easy task, considering that we have been stealing since the beginning of our lives, but not being seen would be difficult. We’d just hope that the guards as usual would pick this time to slack off by dozing or gambling the credits they were rewarded for just sitting there, torturing us. 

As we both took a step to exit the room where all the orphans slept, I felt a tug on my shirt that made me stop in my tracks. I heard a soft whisper say my name that forced my head to turn its attention down to a small little girl with her eyes as big as the moon far in the sky.

Her soft voice whispered again as she held tightly on the bottom of my shirt. “Kyla? Castann? Where are you going?” You could spot out that she was still half asleep, and there was a spot of tiredness in her voice. Castann had turned around as well at this point. He walked over to me and the little girl and got down to her level by getting down on one knee. He grabbed her hand and softly made her hand let go of my shirt, and looked her in the eyes.

His strong voice went down to a whisper, and he said, “We are leaving. I know you don’t want us to, but it’s what we believe is best for us. Hopefully, you can too. One day. Please stay strong and don’t tell anyone. It’s important you don’t. Okay? Can you make a promise?” Castann was always good with the smaller children and knew how to calm them or convince them. 

The girl answered him, with a small amount of sadness on her face, yet with the sweetest voice, “Ok Castann. I promise.” 

Then she unexpectedly hugged him tight for a good bit and let go. 

Leaving all the other kids alone in these conditions, serving someone who forces them to steal for their own personal gain, just to sell the items to buy weapons or whatever crap they want, then reward them with little food definitely was going through both our minds. It affected Castann more than me because he is a bit more caring than I could ever be. It’s disappointing to think about kids living in these conditions, where every day is a struggle, but in my eyes, it will only make them stronger in this world. Whenever I could, I would try helping them, because if and when we escape, they won’t have us anymore, and they would be alone. 

Castann escorted her back to her mat, which lay next to a 12-year-old boy Twi’lek who was fast asleep. I followed and let Castann get her to lay down before getting closer to her. When she settled in, he stroked the side of her face, causing a smile to light up on her face. The calm little girl let out a small giggle that brought a large grin to his face. It’s easy to spot that he would miss these small moments in time when he played around with the orphans. They seemed enlightened by it because it made the rest of their day. 

Deciding to let a small grin myself, I got down on one knee to kiss her on the cheek and watched Castann put her asleep, still grazing the tip of his index finger down the side of her face. Her eyelids were already closed, and her breathing slowed down, and seconds later she had fallen asleep. 

We both stood back up, gazing down at the now sleeping girl, making sure she wouldn’t wake up again. I then turned to Castann who was still looking over the girl and whispered, “C’mon. We need to hurry if we want a good chance to leave without getting caught,” and I gestured to the hallway with my head. He slowly turned to me and agreed, slightly hesitating for obvious reasons. 

Making it to the end of the stone based hallway, we peeked around the corner to see someone strolling down that hallway.  _ Now’s our chance. Can’t screw it up. _

The guards actually never turned the corner to the next hallway, they just patrolled one part of the hallway, so when he turned around, I could sneak up behind him, then steal the key card.

Castann and I had been planning this day for about two years now, and when the guard got closer and closer to turning around, I felt the heat and the heartbeats in my own chest accelerate. Soon enough the sentinel stopped and turned to go the opposite way now, and my heart stopped for a moment. 

_ What if I screw this opportunity up? We really only have one chance. If we get caught, it’s the end. We’d be in so much trouble for attempting to run away. _ The self-doubt clouded my mind, and it felt as if the world suddenly lurched into slow motion. Feeling Castann’s hand on my shoulder helped me snap out of it, and I snapped my head towards him.

“You don’t have to do this part if you don’t want to. Either way, I believe in you that you can do it.” He whispered, assuring me. I nodded in agreement, seeing that I was being irrational, and decided to go for it. 

Light on my toes, casually sneaking behind the sentinel, I got right behind him and went for where the key card would be located on the right side of his body. Slickly, I felt the card, a rectangular, slim piece of tech, and waited for the right moment, the right step to pull it out.  _ Wait for him to step off his right leg so he is less likely to feel you pull it out, _ spoke my subconscious, who was totally right. The sentinel stepped off his right leg, and I quickly, yet efficiently pulled it out of his pocket. I stood still for a second, not wanting to blow it by a small hearable footstep. When he didn’t notice and kept walking through the rest of the hallway for a bit, I spun around and lightly ran on my toes back to Castann, who was eagerly waiting to see the key card. 

I flicked it out of my palm, catching it with my index and middle finger, showing off the thin piece of technology that could unlock a whole mechanical door all by its lonesome self. I gave off a smirk as he carefully slipped it past my fingers into his own hands. My heart raced as the worry began to fill my head again. 

“Let’s go. We don’t want to get caught,” I reminded Castann who was studying the card carefully between his fingers. 

In an exhaling breath, I agreed in relief that he felt the same way. “Yeah, we better go,” Then we tried to sprint without making too much noise down the next hallway. 

Suspiciously there weren't that many sentinels roaming the hallways as there normally would when we were supposed to be trying to get sleep, only the passing rats that scurried past us in the opposite way. There was a suspicious feeling that lingered deep down inside that something may go wrong, but I chose to ignore it. I can’t start worrying now when we’re only eight feet from the door now. As we approached the door, we both had shaky breaths and a mix between worried and hopeful thoughts in our heads. My heart pounded as the adrenaline surged throughout my body, making me ready for anything that may possibly go wrong, for there are many ways it could absolutely go wayward if we don’t pick up the pace even more than we already have. 

We approached the huge metal door, almost passing it up since we were sprinting as fast as we could. The sliding door was about six feet tall and spread about fifty-six inches wide with a Key Card Reader on the left side. I could feel the blood hammering in my ears now, every exhale of mine sounding like I had just been in freezing cold weather as it shook. Castann was doing the same thing as he pulled out the card, and went to swipe it, hoping it wouldn’t signal anything to someone else that the door had been opened. He put the card in, and we waited eagerly for a few seconds to see what happened. 

There was a small green light that appeared under where the card was inserted, and the door slowly slid open, creaking a little bit from age, revealing the same alleyway we came in and out of when we would go out stealing or making fake deals with richer people than us who looked smart, but were really crackheads when it came to noticing fake deals, and ended up being scammed. 

We finally let out an exhale after holding our breaths for the past minute. Looking at each other, we smiled and booked-it down the alley, running as fast as we could. Since it was dark, we had to be very careful not to separate. We were almost out of the alley when we heard a noise that made our hearts sink- the revving of a speeder behind us. We both looked back and saw several speeders chasing our tails. 

Castann looked back at me and huffed in a short breath, “Run!” 

Picking up the pace, both of us going full speed against the strong, cold winter wind, stabbing us with the feeling of the sharpest needles going through our faces. The speeders kept slowly catching up to us as we bolted down the streets. My face was numb and my feet burned, yet we kept going, not stopping for any little thing. I noticed that the speeders were getting too close, which scared both of us. I grabbed Castann’s hand and made a very sharp turn into a small gap from between two buildings that led to the docking ports for ships loading and unloading supplies, and just for ships going off-world in general. I heard a loud crash, meaning that at least one speeder had crashed. 

“We can catch a ride from someone going off-world. Hopefully, someone lets us,” I commented, not looking back at Castann who was behind me, huffing against the wall.

The gap was kind of tight, but we could fit through. The vehicles would definitely not be able to fit through though. A bunch of loose wires hung from the brick walls of the buildings, having us duck and step over a load of them. At least this way we were able to catch our breaths, so we could continue bounding towards the ports. The adrenaline flowed through me, along with the determination. Stepping out into the open again, we dashed down a hill where the docking ports along with a few ships with people loading cargo and weapons inside the cargo area of their transportations. 

Rain began to fall as we got to the docks, pelting us with big drops of water that felt as if someone were dumping a gallon of water on your head all at once. Waves crashed over the rocks that lined up by the bank of the ocean, spraying us with the salty water as we ran in the wet grass by the rocks, hoping to lose them more than we already did. The exhaustion caught up to me and I felt like passing out, but I just stopped to regain my breath as I panted with my hands on my knees. Castann stopped as well when he caught up to me, and put one of his hands on my shoulder, he panted as well. Sweat mixed with rainwater poured down our faces, cooling us down until the hypothermia kicked in, chilling us to the bone. 

We stood there for a moment and watched the waves crash against the jagged rocks, spraying us in the process, letting the rain pour down on us. My face was numb, and I couldn’t feel any of my fingers or toes. We both looked at each other, breaking our sights from the waves.

“Let’s go find someone who will take us off-world,” Castann suggested firmly while trying not to let his voice shake from the piercing frosty cold winds that blew. “And if we stay out here in the cold with it raining, we could practically freeze,” he added, crossing his arms to feel some form of heat. 

I laughed a little, then agreed with him, and we both ran towards where all the remaining ships were. Sunlight was emerging from the horizon, taking over the darkness of the night. We were about to walk into a material store when we saw three tall masked figures standing next to another man, who was all of a sudden now pointing nervously at us. 

“Crap,” I muttered to myself, now looking at the figures bounding towards us.

Castann cursed under his breath. We both took off, not knowing where to go next as we bolted away from the figures who were pursuing after us. We came to a complete stop when four more of them came out from a corner of a building, holding Electropoles in our faces, and forcing us to back up, making us in the center of the circle they harassed us into. The rain clouds covered the sun that rose, only leaving a bit of sunlight peeking through the dark clouds. Lightning burst in the sky with thunder booming seconds after.

_ What are we going to do now? If we pick a fight with them, they have the advantage of weapons, and we don’t have anything but our fists, leaving us with the disadvantage. _ Thinking to myself some more, I came up with the answer and left Castann’s side to throw a punch at one of the figures with my numb fists. 

They blocked it with their Electropole, and I took my leg and kicked them very hard in the hip from the side, making him stumble back. I snatched the pole from his hands, and used one end to electrocute him; thus, he fell backward into the mud unconscious. After that exciting feat, two of the members of the party advanced towards Castann, as another individual ran up to me, and tried to hit me with the end of their Electropole. Spinning the pole, I blocked their attack and went to make a move, aiming at their face. They blocked it, leaving me to strike again near their side, which they again blocked. Castann was having difficulties defending himself and nearly was hit probably more than once. 

“Castann!” I yelled, throwing my only weapon at Castann for him to use, then dodged my opponent by jumping to the floor and tucked into a roll. He caught it and struck the face of one of his attacking opponents, who then tumbled back in surprise. 

I started standing up as soon as I could, but I felt something hard come in contact with my back, then soon after, pain. Numbness faded away and I felt the surge of electricity send waves of pain across my body. Forcing myself to break away from it, I turned and took down the attacker, and sent them straight down in mud from the force of my knuckles hitting the bottom of their chin. I grabbed his weapon and headed for an opponent trying to sneak behind Castann who was occupied fighting another opponent. The rain beat harder as I winded back to electrocute the masked figure behind Castann. Before I could hit them, I felt the crackling of electricity against my neck, leaving me dazed and shocked as it continued. I screamed in pain, wanting it to stop. I felt the electropole back off, then barely saw Castann through my spotty vision turn around just as I was hit in the face with the end of the pole my attacker was holding. My hands shook as my legs gave way, and I slowly collapsed to the mud, holding my breath in shock, trying not to pass out as my heart slowly tried to go back into rhythm. 

Castann thrashed his weapon into the person who struck me, shortly after he took down his enemy. 

I tried standing up, but every muscle in my body ached from that wave of shock. I heard Castann fighting the other bounty hunters as the rain poured over my face. I was staring at the ground on one knee, there was blood leaking from my nose into my mouth, I was cold and wet, still practically in shock, and numb everywhere the cold could touch. Determined, I saw over the pain and slowly stood up, searching for where Castann was dealing with the last three bounty hunters. I ran to Castann, who gave a short relieved expression to see that I wasn’t hurt too badly to continue. He gave me a spare staff that he had snatched off one of the opponents and threw it to me. 

“Not an electroplole, but it’ll do better than my fists,” I mumbled to myself, then threw myself back into battle by stopping an attack that Castann would’ve missed, leading him with a concussion if I let that happen. 

I was about to throw another attack at one of the bounty hunters, but I heard two blasts behind us and not even a second later, felt a burning sensation drive through the top of my shoulder, forcing me to drop the staff I had in hand and grasp my shoulder in pain. Then suddenly I felt a firm blow across my face, and a quick wave of black took over my eyes as I fell on my side to the rain-soaked ground.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got Chapter 2 made! Whoever in the world even reads this, I hope you enjoy Lol

Slowly, my eyelids opened as I dazedly came back into consciousness. Kyla was still out, her head leaning on my shoulder peacefully. Blue and white flashes of light came from a window above us, lighting up every dim part of the unknown room. Stacked crates were visible in the semi-darkness, some covered by tarps, others by clear wrapping.  _ Are we– in hyperspace? _ I thought, seeing there were no other places we could be. Maybe hours before, we had tried to escape the crime lord we lived under, and battled some bounty hunters that he had sent to capture us. Kyla had been knocked out, leaving me even more outnumbered and forced to surrender. 

My eyes rounded back to Kyla. Her face was bruised and there were small spots of dry blood around her face, partially mixed with others and her own. I was no better, but I couldn't complain. I took my thumb and gently wiped off some of the dry blood around her eye. I wondered if I should wake her up, see what our next move was and see where we were at. No, I thought, she needs rest. She rarely ever gets any sleep. Not anymore. Something was on her mind, and I noticed something was up with her, but every time I asked, she would just say everything is alright.

Suddenly, Kyla jolted awake, panic in her dull eyes. I went to bring my hand to her shoulder, to comfort her, but she gave me a look that said don’t touch her at all. She groaned, touching the blaster wound on her shoulder. “Kyla, you alright?” I asked as she sat back onto the wall behind us. 

“No,” she started to say, “Not really,” Kyla sounded a little irritated since I kind of already knew the straight, more harshly direct answer. She stared down at her hand, which was scratched from using her bare fists in a fight. 

Letting a few silent moments pass by, I was reminded of when we were little, and the small memories that were made from living under a crime lord. 

“Hey, Kyla?” I whispered as I turned towards her. 

She turned her head as well. “Yeah?” she questioned why I called her, softening her tone. 

I straightened my posture a little bit and tried to lighten up. “You remember when you were obsessed with Lothcats?” 

Kyla playfully scoffed and rolled her eyes as soon as those words came into play. I knew she didn’t like herself for being so foolish then, considering the conditions we lived under. “Yes–” she let out a small laugh. 

I smiled, seeing she was starting to cheer up and cope with all the thoughts I knew were going through her head. “You were feeding and taking care of that one injured Lothcat out in the streets and one day it decided to follow you back to the base without you knowing.”

Kyla glared at me with a somber look in her eye. “You know it didn’t end well. Not for the Lothcat, nor both of us,” She sighed, breaking eye contact. 

My face fell, remembering the sad truth that the Lothcat was killed. It most likely wouldn’t have made it anyway. But, before that, the Lothcat had caused a bunch of trouble amongst the base, playfully attacking the guards and messing with the other kids. 

From the corner of my eye, I saw Kyla give a soft smile, thinking of the same thing. Seeing so warmed my heart because she rarely ever smiled like that anymore. The times she did, it lit up her pretty face. 

Finally remembering where we were– wherever that was, I stood up and offered my hand to Kyla to help her stand. “Let’s find out where we are exactly, shall we?” 

Kyla gazed up at me with that same grin on her face. “Yeah,” Kyla replied, “Let’s.” She gripped my hand with her good arm and I slowly pulled her up to her feet.

We had started walking past crates until we came around to the window where the main source of light was coming from and stopped in front of it. “We’re definitely not where we used to be anymore,” Kyla breathed in awe, almost as if hypnotized by the vaguely recognizable stars shooting past us. 

Kyla was right. We’re maybe many parsecs away from the only home we knew if you could call it that. I turned around, looking for a way out of the dark storage room we stood in. A few feet away, there was a door that led outside of the room. I gestured for Kyla to follow and started walking towards it. She followed close behind as we swiftly approached the sliding door. I scanned for a control panel but there wasn’t one.  _ Maybe it’s locked from the outside… _ Curiously, I touched the door and it immediately opened. I spun around to Kyla with a perplexed look. 

_ How did it open when there wasn’t a control panel? _ I thought to myself, truly puzzled. I turned around, gazing into the now open hallway of the ship. 

“Let’s go,” Kyla softly muttered as she took the lead, walking slowly into the hallway. I followed close behind her as we strode past a few other unknown rooms, stealthily. 

Something felt off. My stomach twisted knowing something was up. I stopped and grasped Kyla’s wrist, causing her to stop and quickly turn around. “Kyla, I don’t know if we were exactly  _ saved _ –” 

“I know,” Kyla interrupted, “I feel something isn’t right as well…” 

I nodded, not needing to tell her to brace for another possible fight. As we got closer to the assumed cockpit, we overheard bursts of laughter and a distinct conversation between men. We both halted when their voices went down to a soft whisper. The only thing I could make out was “They aren’t locked in the cargo hold anymore” from one guy and the loud movement of clothing mixed with the sound of metal being handled. From around the corner, we saw four men step out of the cockpit area with charged blasters in hand. 

We both hugged the wall, looking at each other in alarm. Their footsteps got closer as I prepared to fight once more. Their voices grew louder, speaking in a new language to us so we didn’t know their intentions. Kyla and I muttered an “Okay” to each other, and jumped out from the corner, fists ready. Kyla was the first one to have made contact with the new enemies before I grabbed my opponent’s wrist with the blaster and redirected the blast up to the ceiling by pulling his arm up, then made him flip over my back onto his. I grabbed his blaster and pointed it at him. I lowered it, not wanting to kill him. Kyla on the other hand, even with a bad arm, managed to steal her opponent’s blaster and shoot him in the chest, then proceeded to blast my unconscious opponent. Kyla then dodged two of the blasts from both remaining enemies, then blasted them both with the calmest look on her face. It was almost scary. 

“I guess those combat sessions were helpful,” I commented, scanning over the corpses as we walked into the cockpit, remembering those days studying street fights and practicing the different moves on each other. 

Kyla scoffed. “We weren’t that bad, considering that was the first time we put it to actual use,” Kyla stated. We sat down, Kyla in the co-pilot seat and myself in the pilot seat, searching for the right buttons to retake control of the ship. Kyla had spotted them before me and flipped a few switches, causing us to jump out of hyperspace into the endlessness of stars. 

We were finally off-world. Not completely free, but free. We both turned our chairs towards each other, smiling. Without realizing it, I got up and hugged Kyla tight in pure happiness. I felt Kyla tense up in surprise, but she loosened up and hugged me back. I let go, remembering she was still hurt. 

“Uhm- sorry. I forgot–” I started to stutter, but Kyla cut in. 

“It’s okay. I feel better already, so no need to worry about me,” she insisted. “It’s a small wound.” She paused for a long while and looked out into the stars. “We’re half-way through the plan we thought would fail,” Kyla sighed softly. “Now to execute the rest of it: Make a plan to survive in the galaxy.” 

We both sat back down and grabbed the steering wheels. “Where do we go now?” I asked, still not knowing where we came from and what part of the galaxy we’re in. 

“I’m not sure,” responded Kylam not looking up from the control panels. “Before we stopped the ship from lightspeed, we were heading to… ‘Coruscant’?”

_ Coruscant. _ The planet name sounded somewhat familiar.  _ Probably overheard a smuggler or a traveler say it. _ Pondering no longer, I remembered one trader saying Coruscant was a huge planet. In fact, the whole planet is a gigantic city. “Can we continue the jump? Coruscant may be the best planet to go to right now.” 

Kyla slightly turned her head for a moment and responded, “Yeah, I think we can.” Kyla switched a few switches and I pulled a lever, then we were heading to Coruscant in a few seconds. Suddenly, Kyla quickly spun around. “What now? We have a good while before we get there. It’s estimated to be around an hour. What do you think we can do to pass the time?” Kyla asked. 

“I don’t know,” I replied, not able to think of anything at the moment that would be productive. My thoughts went back to the corpses outside the cockpit. They could have something valuable on them. After all, they were smugglers, so who knows? “We could check if those smugglers had anything of value to us on them. Once we do we need to get rid of them.” 

Kyla stood up from the co-pilot’s seat and sighed. “Good idea. Anything they have on them could be really useful to sell. Make a few credits once we reach Coruscant.” She looked down at me, waiting for me to follow. I slowly stood up as well as she walked out of the cockpit, limping. 

I knelt down and searched the nearest guy to me. I felt in one of his pockets a small leather bag and grabbed it. I opened it, seeing credits inside. A good amount as well. Surprised about what I found, said, “Kyla,” and as soon as she stopped searching the guy beside her, who most likely didn’t have anything on him, I tossed the bag to her, and she caught it in surprise, making a clattering noise when it came in contact with her palm. 

She opened the bag and gave me a small smile. “Credits. By the looks of it, maybe one-hundred or so. This is a good start,” she commented, throwing the leather bag back to me, and she stood up. I tucked the credits away in my pocket and stood up as well. “Do any of the other men have anything useful?” She questioned. 

“No,” I replied, looking down at one of the guys by her feet. She picked up one of the men and threw his dead body over her good shoulder. I followed, picking up one of the men myself. Kyla and I found our way to the airlock eventually and decided to throw them out that way. 

As we headed towards the cockpit again, the ship suddenly jerked out of hyperspace. “I think we’re here,” Kyla said, looking ahead at the rest of the hallway we had to walk to get to the cockpit again. We both picked up speed, hurtling towards the cockpit. When we got there, we sat down and looked out the cockpit window and was caught off guard by what we saw: A towering planet was in view with light patterns scattered across the surface. So many lights were visible from space, which was amazing. 

“Whoa,” we both awed in sync, still drifting towards Coruscant as we took it all in. We both then grabbed the controls and steered the ship towards Coruscant.

I couldn’t help but think that Coruscant was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen. As we flew into the atmosphere, the city was somewhat visible behind the clouds. We descended from the clouds, flying past tall buildings in the night as towards a docking bay that was open for use. The tall buildings were soon out of sight as we dropped the landing gear and made contact with the ground. 

“Here we go,” Kyla breathed in. She then jumped out of her seat and reached for the overhead buttons for the ship to turn it off. She surprised me with how much she knew about flying ships. I never knew she knew how to. Of course, like me, she could’ve read a book on different ships in her spare time and learned how to operate them. I never got through the books though since I’m not the best reader in the world.

We both stepped out of the cockpit and hurried for where the boarding ramp was located so we could exit the ship. The ship was pretty decent in size. It was small enough to navigate yourself through without getting lost, and it felt big enough to fit a good amount of cargo and people inside. We had yet to explore some of the rooms though, and we decided to do that later once we figured out what we were going to do now that we’re free. 

We walked up towards the boarding ramp and a few  _ more _ buttons at the side to open it. There was one green button amongst the others, the one that would lower it, and I pressed it. As soon as I did, the ramp lowered quickly and in a few seconds, we were able to walk off. I looked at Kyla, who surprisingly seemed worried, and I didn’t blame her. My gut lurched and twisted just from thinking about what we were going to do now. 

I started walking, knowing Kyla would follow. My eyes scanned across the landing bay, then turned around and looked at the dark, moon-lit sky. Buildings by the many towered above the clouds while hundreds of speeders flew in a neat style across the skyway that went in many directions. 

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” I asked Kyla, who wasn’t paying too much attention to the view but paying attention to the surrounding people walking across the deck, watching them tensely. I walked closer to her, almost scoffing at how unnecessarily cautious she was being. “Why are you being like that?” I questioned, catching her off-guard.

She whipped around towards me. “Being like what?” She questioned back. 

“You’re acting like everyone and their mother is looking to get us and being super cautious for no reason,” I replied, looking at her crossed arms.

She glared at me unamused. “I know, but I don’t trust people I don’t know. Especially not on a planet we haven’t ever been to,” Kyla snapped.

“Well do you trust me?” I asked, looking into her soft blue eyes, trying to calm her down. She just looked away, biting her lip, knowing what I was doing. 

She spun back around, facing me once more. “You know I do,” she simply stated softly. 

Then I can promise you nothing is going to happen, so you can stop being so paranoid,” I taunted Kyla, expecting my head to get bit off. 

Instead, she gave me a disapproving look but gave in and let out a small grin. “I’m not just the one who gets paranoid, you know,” Kyla commented, staring at me. That much was true… Even I got a little paranoid a few years ago. 

We both began to walk again, looking around at all the lights that shone in the night. “What should we do first?” I asked Kyla, glancing at different people walking in and out of the deck. Whatever we would do, we would need help finding our way in such a big place.

“I don’t know. Let’s just walk around and see where we end up. We can’t go too far away from the ship though, of course. Plus it’s nighttime, so we could get lost easily…” Kyla trailed off.

We continued walking around the area near the landing ports, passing small shops selling different things until we heard a voice behind us speak directly to us, saying, “You two don’t look like you’re from Coruscant.” We spun around to a man standing next to a holo-sign advertising something in Aurebesh. He was tall, slim, and scruff. He wore a black jacket and a blaster around his waist.

I was about to answer the anonymous man’s remark, but Kyla spoke first. “Who are you and what do you want with us?” 

He was taken aback by her harsh tone, but ignored it and replied, “I’m Gronhys Kale. And your names are?” 

Once more, I tried answering Gronhys, the guy that seemed like he was trying to be nice, but Kyla insisted to keep defending our identities. “None of your concern, at least not  _ yet, _ ” she warned him. I sighed, turning my head towards her, giving her a look saying to let me talk and find out what he wants. 

“I’m Castann and she’s Kyla,” I finally was able to respond, satisfying  _ one  _ of Gronhys’ Questions. “This is the first time we’ve ever been to any other planet besides…” I had trailed off, forgetting no one ever spoke of the planet we grew up in, so the planet was unknown to us. 

“Nice to meet your acquaintance, Castann and Kyla,” Gronhys shook my hand with his gloved ones. I could feel Kyla scowling from behind. 

“If you don’t mind, could you tell us what your intentions are?” I asked, trying to be the peacekeeper here between Kyla and Gronhys. If I hadn’t asked that, Kyla would have gone all defense mode. 

Gronhys glanced at Kyla for a few seconds, and replied, “I mean, you said yourself that you haven’t been anywhere other than where you came from. You wouldn’t know your way around Coruscant, and I was hoping to make a few friends.” 

_ So he’d help us around? If he would, that would be great, _ I shortly thought. “So you’re saying you’d help us find our way?” I asked further. 

“Of course!” He exclaimed. I could tell Kyla was holding back a protest, but she considered that we didn’t have any other way to get around easily, and this was probably the best chance we are going to get. He motioned for us to follow him. “C’mon. I have my speeder ready around near the speeder lot,” he ushered as he started walking towards a small lot where few speeders were parked. 

I walked back to where Kyla was hesitating still, slowly moving forward. “Why won’t you try to trust Gronhys?” I whispered, not looking at her as we blindly followed behind the tall man. “I mean, I know you said you don’t trust people you don’t know, but you weren’t always like  _ this, _ ” I stated, speaking truthfully. I knew she was never like this before. I know her, and she hasn’t been acting like herself too much lately. 

Kyla didn’t look at me when she replied, “I told you already that nothing is going on and to leave the subject alone,” and she sped up, catching up to Gronhys.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As I sped up, I caught up to this new Gronhys character, leaving Castann by himself. Castann worries about me, and I can tell. I will admit, I have been acting a little bit different lately, but I don’t know the reason why. Castann sped up as well, following close behind me. Before I knew it, we were at the speeder lot Gronhys spoke of. 

We all walked up to the speeder I assumed was his. It was a pretty nice speeder, way nicer than the ones I have ever seen up close. It had a grey body, a retractable hood, and comfy-looking seats. Gronhys got in the driver’s seat and waited for us to get in. Castann somehow got in front of me and opened the door, letting me inside first. I nodded a silent “Thank You” and climbed inside with him following and closing the door. Gronhys steered the speeder off the edge, falling into the fast-flowing traffic in the skyway. 

Castann was right about one thing; Coruscant was beautiful. Especially from above as well. I sat back, taking in the nice, welcoming night air that the retracted roof let in. 

“So what’s your two’s life story?” I heard Gronhys ask as he focused on the moving speeders in front of him. I stayed silent, still hesitant to tell this man anything until he does something trustworthy in my eyes. Instead, I looked off to the side, looking down at the air below and the buildings underneath. 

Castann on the other hand cleared his throat, getting ready to speak. “It’s actually a long story…” he spoke in a sort of miserable way. 

Gronhys stayed quiet for a few seconds. Suddenly, he spoke without warning, “Well, if you don’t mind, you two could share it over a drink?” He paused, then spoke once more, saying, “Afterwards, we can figure out where ya’ need to go.”

Castann shifted from sitting up to a slouch, then replied, “I’m fine with that,” he then turned towards me as I continued staring far off at some signs that were written in Aurebesh. Some hovered near the skyway saying “Speed Limit seventy” and others advertising inns and shops of all sorts. “Kyla?” He tried getting my attention. 

I sighed, still not giving him my full attention. “Yeah, I guess that’s alright,” I half-heartedly agreed with an empty voice. 

“Alrighty,” Gronhys started saying. “I know of a great place I think you’ll like.” He pulled off the skyway and descended down past a few platforms and into another speeder lot. The lot was decently full, and a few sketchy people walked in groups in the lot. 

“Where are we?” I couldn’t refrain from asking, seeing that this place seemed very off. I hopped out on the other side of the speeder, too impatient for Castann to let me out.

Gronhys got out as well, then turned to face me. “This is the first part of the Lower Levels of Coruscant,” he said in a proud way. I was only left to assume that the “Lower Levels” were the less invested parts of Coruscant since the “Upper Levels” are more visible. 

Gronhys started walking with both Castann and I following, examining the rusted pipes sticking out of some buildings and rats scurrying on the beat-up sidewalk. It was only a short, silent walk before Gronhys stopped in front of a decrepit building with a red neon sign above it, half-lit. All I could make out of it was “...’s Cantina” in Aurebesh. 

“Here we are!” Gronhys exclaimed as he walked up to the sliding door. It slid open with ease and he walked inside with us ensuing after him. As soon as we set foot in the Cantina, scruff men of all different species gave unsettling stares, their eyes not taking themselves off the new arrivals. They soon then went back to their card games and chattering with the other men at the tables. 

“Kale!” the voice of a Rodian near the bar table shouted over the consistent babbling in the Cantina. I followed the voice to a Rodian who was now beginning to stand up as Gronhys started to approach him. 

“Tycho! How are you? Haven’t seen you in the longest time!” Gronhys said warmly, now shaking hands with him. He chortled then began to converse with Gronhys in Rodese, one of the many languages I have yet to learn. 

I stood there awkwardly along with Castann, silent and waiting until Gronhys stopped talking to the Rodian. “This,” he began to say in English, “Is Kyla and Castann.” He made a hand gesture next to him, gazing at us for a moment. “They are new to Coruscant. They’ve never been to any other planet before so I offered to help them out,” he added. 

The Rodian Stepped towards us, and shook our hands as he said, “Ah. Well I’m Tycho, and welcome to Coruscant. I nodded with a very straight face, stepping back away from him. Abruptly, he said, “Well sadly I have to go. I still have that something I need to take care of,” he looked at Gronhys with a secretive smile. “It was nice meeting you two!” he shouted as he started walking out of the Cantina. 

I faced Gronhys, making sure he had my eye contact. “What is he talking about?” I said, dragging the sentence out. 

Gronhys hesitated a little bit. He then replied, “Secretive bounty hunter business. Nothing to worry about,” He tried to assure me. Gronhys, quickly changing subjects as he headed towards an empty table in the far corner of the cantina, isolated by itself, said, “So how about that life story?” He ushered us on one side of the table as he sat on the other. 

I could tell Castann was going to say something before the barkeep came over. “Well, well, well,” the Besalisk cackled. “If it isn’t Gronhys Kale!” 

“Kennex!” Gronhys exclaimed in an amiable laughter. “How’ve you been?” 

I slothfully spun around, gazing at Castann.  _ Not again, _ I thought, giving Castann a quite irritated look. Castann snickered, softly shrugging his shoulders in amusement. I barely paid little attention to the second introduction. “So what can I get you guys?” the Besalisk asked all of us at once. 

Gronhys responded with a cheerful tone, “I’ll take my usual.” 

“Do you have Ardees?” Castann questioned Kennex with a hopeful tone. 

Kennex crossed one pair of his arms and replied, “Sure do!” Kennex turned to me, seeing if I wanted anything. 

Before he could ask, I gave a soft scoff and insisted, “I’m fine, thanks.” He nodded and walked away back to the bar table to get the drinks. 

Castann cleared his throat, finally able to tell Gronhys about the sad life that we have lived. “Where to start…” he quietly trailed off, wondering what to go with first. “Well to start, both Kyla and I had the same beginning lives; Our parents abandoned us as infants, left to be found by the crime lord we served under’s men. In their eyes, we were just some new recruits to treat however they wanted, as long as they got paid,” he said dejectedly as Kennex came back with the drinks and left to serve someone else’s drinks. “We basically were taught to steal pretty much anything, scamming included.” 

“Well, that isn’t always a bad thing to know how to do,” Gronhys commented before Castann could continue. 

Castann dragged on, taking a sip from the solid metal cup Kennex had set down on the table. “The first time Kyla and I actually met was one day when I was ten. She was shaking with fear in one of the storage room’s corners after she took severe punishment when she back-talked to one of the guards earlier that day…” his voice faded out, into the back of my mind, growing quieter as the seconds passed. I then heard a hollow, unfamiliar whisper, slowly growing louder in replacement of Castann’s voice. 

It was ominous, yet welcoming in a sense I couldn’t make out. It felt somewhat calling to me, telling me to go somewhere. I blinked, and time suddenly froze. No one was in the cantina any longer. Everyone was just  _ gone _ . The room was stuck in a greyscale haze, seeming colorless. I got up and looked around as the whispering voice grew louder, coming from one direction of the room. Instinctively, I followed it outside the cantina. The city seemed moribund and lifeless, still in that greyscale state. No thoughts of what was happening occurred in my mind. Nothing telling me  _ not _ to follow the voice. I took one more step, trying to follow the now quiet whispering, but found myself as if falling into darkness and hitting the floor of a small, dark room without feeling any pain. 

_ Is this a dream?  _ I asked myself, but heard it echo in the room as if I said it out loud. I got up to my feet and was met with a hooded figure standing right in front of me. She gave an eerie smile and laughed injuriously as it echoed in the empty room. She seemed familiar… Who was she? She then suddenly disappeared, leaving darkness behind, the echoing laughs fading. 

As it did, I heard Castann’s voice calling my name from out of the darkness sounding concerned. “Kyla. Kyla?” I blinked once more, and everything reverted back to normal. Castann was right beside me, and Gronhys was in front of us still with a puzzled look spread across his rough face. “What happened? You look like you saw a rathtar for the first time!” He exclaimed. 

Not knowing what happened myself, I quickly dismissed the matter. “Nothing. I-I may just be dehydrated,” I insisted, looking down at my hands, trying not to make eye contact with either of them. Castann gave me a small disbelieving look and concluded the long story. 

“Well, that’s why we are here,” Castann said. I didn’t bother listening to the rest of Gronhys and Castann’s conversation. I pondered on who the hooded figure was and why she seemed so familiar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a long time to get ideas for, so Thanks Celestia XD


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